Why such a simple sheet?
Drawing sheet started with a parent’s frustration: most drawing apps for kids are full of menus, ads, flashing rewards and buttons that get pressed by accident. Yet a three-year-old wants only one thing: for it to draw when they touch the screen.
So the app was built around a few principles:
- Nothing between the finger and the sheet. No home screen, no levels, no score: open it and draw.
- Several fingers at once. Small hands often rest the whole palm on the screen; every finger draws its own line, and two children can draw together on one tablet.
- Controls that are hard to break. Tools can be hidden, navigation gestures only work when no tool is selected, and undo is always within reach.
- Privacy first. No account, no ads, no trackers: drawings stay on the device until you decide to share them.
It runs in the browser of any phone, tablet or computer, and can be installed on the home screen like a regular app.
Get started in 30 seconds
- Open draw.erwann.app on a tablet or phone (the bigger the screen, the better).
- Tap a color at the bottom of the screen, then draw with one or more fingers.
- Tap an emoji to pick a sticker, then tap the sheet to place it.
- Oops? The undo arrow at the top removes the last line or sticker.
- To keep little hands away from the menus, hide the tools with the chevron button: only the sheet remains.
Tip: install the app on your home screen (☰ menu → About → Install the app). It then opens full screen, with no address bar to tap by mistake.
Every feature
Ten colors, including a rainbow
The palette offers red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black and white, plus a rainbow color that shifts hue all along the line. White doubles as a gentle eraser: just draw over what you want to hide. Tap the selected color again to deselect it.
Multi-finger drawing
Every finger on the screen draws its own line, at the same time as the others, with soft rounded ends. No need to press hard or aim: the lightest touch draws.
Emoji stickers
Nine emojis are always visible (😀 ❤️ ⭐ 🌈 🦄 🐱 🐶 🚀 😘) and a tenth button opens a grid of 90 more: animals, fruit, vehicles, weather, parties… Once placed, a sticker can be dragged to move it, pinched to resize it and twisted with two fingers to rotate it. To get rid of one, drag it into the bin that appears: it vanishes in a little puff of smoke.
Move, zoom and rotate the sheet
When no tool is selected, the sheet becomes a drawing table: one finger moves it, two fingers zoom and rotate it. Handy for adding tiny details or enlarging a drawing. On a computer, the mouse wheel and trackpad work too.
New drawing: blank page or coloring page
The ☰ menu → New drawing offers a blank page or a coloring page: cat, fish, house, flower, butterfly, car, unicorn or boat. The current drawing is kept, nothing is lost.
My drawings
Every drawing is saved automatically on the device as you draw, even offline. My drawings lets you reopen one, duplicate it to make a variation, or delete it.
Save the image
Save image creates a PNG of the drawing. On a phone, the share sheet opens: save it to Photos, send it to family or print it.
The timelapse video
Grandparents’ favorite: Save video replays the drawing line by line, in the order it was made (without anything that was undone). Choose the duration, the format (fit, square, portrait or landscape for social media), the background (white, cream or night), and optionally keep the finished drawing on screen for a few seconds at the end.
Share a link
Share link creates a web page for the drawing, with a preview, a player that replays it (play, pause, speed, full screen, video download) and a space for kind comments, where links are not allowed. The recipient can also tap Draw on it to continue the drawing on their own device. If you change the drawing, you can update the existing link instead of creating a new one.
Eight languages
French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic (with a right-to-left layout). The device language is picked automatically the first time.
Shortcuts for parents
- Ctrl/⌘ + Z: undo
- Ctrl/⌘ + S: save the image
- Space: click-free painting — the color simply follows the mouse or stylus, ideal for the youngest on a computer
- Esc: close windows and deselect the tool
Kids and creativity: what science says
A scribble is never “just a scribble”. Decades of developmental psychology research show that free drawing supports motor skills, language, memory and self-confidence. Here is a jargon-free tour.
Scribbling is a stage, not a mess
Researcher Rhoda Kellogg studied over a million children’s drawings from around the world. She identified about twenty “basic scribbles” (dots, lines, spirals, loops) that all children produce, in the same order, before drawing circles, then suns, then people [1]. Viktor Lowenfeld likewise described a scribbling stage (roughly ages 2 to 4) followed by a “pre-schematic” stage when the first figures appear [2]. In other words: when your child fills the page with swirls, they are doing exactly what their brain needs at that age.
Free play is a necessity
The American Academy of Pediatrics stresses that free, unstructured play builds creativity, problem solving, emotional regulation and the parent–child bond [3][4]. A blank sheet with no instructions is one of the most open-ended games there is: no right answer and no game over.
Rewards can kill the urge
In a famous experiment, preschoolers who loved drawing with markers were given a “Good Player” certificate for their drawings. Weeks later, they drew less on their own than children who had received nothing [5]. That’s why Drawing sheet shows no stars, points or badges: the joy of making marks is enough.
Talk about the drawing instead of judging it
Carol Dweck’s work shows that praising a child’s talent (“you’re an artist!”) makes them more fragile after failure than praising their effort and choices [6]. For a drawing, that sounds like: “You used lots of blue!”, “Tell me what’s happening here”, “How did you make that spiral?”.
Drawing helps thinking and remembering
In adults and children alike, drawing something helps remember it far better than writing it down: the “drawing effect” shown by Fernandes, Wammes and Meade [7]. Drawing is a language before written language; for Vygotsky, children’s imagination is the raw material of all adult creativity [8].
Fine motor skills and handwriting
Holding a pencil, controlling a line, stopping in the right place: these movements prepare for handwriting, and fine motor skills in preschool are linked to later school achievement [9]. A finger on a screen mainly trains hand–eye coordination; one study even associated touchscreen scrolling with earlier fine motor milestones in toddlers, though it cannot show cause and effect [10]. Nothing replaces a real crayon, though: the two complement each other.
What about screens?
Let’s be honest: the World Health Organization recommends no screen time under age 2 and no more than one hour a day between 2 and 4, favoring shared moments [11]. The American Academy of Pediatrics also emphasizes high-quality content used together with an adult [12]. Drawing sheet is designed in that spirit: an active, creative activity rather than endless videos; no ads or tricks to keep children hooked; and features (video, link, comments) that invite you to talk about it together. A good session is a few minutes of drawing, then watching the timelapse together… and then getting out the felt-tip pens.
In short: let them scribble, don’t grade, ask questions, and alternate screen and paper.
12 game ideas to try
- Four-hand drawing: one finger and one color each, on the same sheet.
- Today’s weather: sun ☀️, clouds ☁️, snowflakes ❄️… draw the weather outside.
- Sticker story: place three random emojis; your child invents the story that links them.
- Rainbow coloring: one coloring page, one color only — the rainbow.
- Draw your day: at bedtime, draw the best moment of the day.
- Shape hunt: a circle, a square, a triangle… who can find more?
- Secret zoom: zoom way in, draw a tiny detail, and let others find it.
- Eyes-closed drawing, then guess what it is.
- Treasure map: a house 🏠, a treasure 💎, and a path full of obstacles.
- Video postcard: a timelapse sent to the grandparents.
- Family portrait, with an emoji for the cat 🐱.
- Opposites game: big / small, up / down, day / night with the video’s “night” background.
Safety and privacy
Drawing sheet requires no account, shows no ads and uses no advertising trackers. Drawings stay in your device’s browser. Only the drawings you choose to share by link are sent to our servers, and public comments reject links. All the details are in the privacy policy and the terms of use.
Frequently asked questions
Is Drawing sheet really free?
Yes, completely: no subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads. Anyone who wishes can make a voluntary one-time contribution to support the project.
What age is it for?
Three-year-olds use it on their own very easily; from age 2, with an adult. Older kids love the coloring pages, timelapses and shareable links.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no account, email or password. Drawings are saved on the device.
Which devices does it work on?
Any recent device with a browser: iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and phones, Mac, Windows, Chromebook or Linux computers. It can be installed like an app.
Does it work offline?
Once the page is open, drawing, saving drawings, images and videos all work without a network. Sharing links and comments need a connection.
Are my drawings saved?
Yes, automatically, in the device’s browser. Note that clearing the browser’s data also clears the drawings. To keep them forever, save the image or video.
Who can see a shared drawing?
Anyone who has the link. Links are impossible to guess, but only post them publicly if you’re happy for everyone to see the drawing.
Why does a shared link say “Drawing not found”?
The person who created the link removed it (from My drawings → Shared links), or the address is incomplete — messaging apps sometimes cut long links. Ask the person to send the link again.
How do I stop my child from leaving the drawing?
Hide the tools with the chevron button and install the app full screen. On iPad and iPhone, Guided Access (Settings → Accessibility) locks the child inside the app.
Scientific sources
- Kellogg, R. (1969). Analyzing Children’s Art. Palo Alto: National Press Books.
- Lowenfeld, V. (1947). Creative and Mental Growth. New York: Macmillan.
- Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds. Pediatrics, 119(1), 182–191. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2006-2697
- Yogman, M., Garner, A., et al. (2018). The power of play: a pediatric role in enhancing development in young children. Pediatrics, 142(3), e20182058. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2058
- Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28(1), 129–137. doi.org/10.1037/h0035519
- Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 33–52. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.33
- Fernandes, M. A., Wammes, J. D., & Meade, M. E. (2018). The surprisingly powerful influence of drawing on memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(5), 302–308. doi.org/10.1177/0963721418755385
- Vygotsky, L. S. (2004). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, 42(1), 7–97. doi.org/10.1080/10610405.2004.11059210
- Dinehart, L. H. (2015). Handwriting in early childhood education: current research and future implications. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(1), 97–118. doi.org/10.1177/1468798414522825
- Bedford, R., et al. (2016). Toddlers’ fine motor milestone achievement is associated with early touchscreen scrolling. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1108. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01108
- World Health Organization (2019). Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age. www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550536
- AAP Council on Communications and Media (2016). Media and young minds. Pediatrics, 138(5), e20162591. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2591
Last updated November 3, 2026